Instrument for cutting thin layers from skinlike tissue



Oct. 3, 1950 FREUDENBERGER 2,524,102

INSTRUMENT FOR CUTTING THIN LAYERS FROM SKIN-LIKE TISSUE Filed April 16, 1949 z/wnv ro/e Leo/ 040 'FRH/DENBERGER Ml 9- H Patented Oct. 3, 1950 INSTRUMENT FOR CUTTING THIN LAYERS FROMSKINLIKE TISSUE Leopold Freudenberger, Kanwal, via Wyong,

- New South Wales, Australia Application April 16, 1949,'Serial No. 87,935

In Gi-eat Britain March 2, 1948 This invention relates to instruments for cutting thin layers from skin-like tissue. One object of the invention is to provide an improved construction which can be used on any type of skin-like material, e. g. for the preparation of animal skins by removing their fieshypart.

Another object of the invention is to provide,

such an instrument which is particularly suitable for surgical purposes, e. g. forcutting corns, and which affords a rapid, yet safe cutting movement.

A further object is to afford a means for adjusting the instrument and thereby the depth of the cut.

More features and advantages of the invention will be apparent'fromthe following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings.

Fig. 1 shows on an enlarged scale a side View, partly in section, of an embodiment of the invention.

Figs. 2 and 3 are an elevational view partly in section along line II-II of Fig. 3, and a top view respectively of means for adjusting the instrument and thereby the depth of the cut.

According to Fig. 1 a knife or cutting blade l is held between wedge-like supporting pieces 2, 3

which are arranged between a top plate 5 and a bottom plate 4. The latter plate is substantially planar and forms a guiding face suitable to slide over the tissue during the cutting operation.

A roller 6 which serves as guide and guard roller is rotatably supported in the instrument so that its cylindrical surface 1 projects slightly beyond the guide surface of the bottom plate 4.

Between the wedge-like members 2, 3 the blade I is positioned at an acute angle to the guiding face of the plate 4 and therefore also at an acute angle to the surface of the tissue along which the instrument is moved whilst its roller 6 and bottom plate 4 contact the tissue from which the thin layer is to be cut. As can be seen from the drawing the cutting blade I is positioned parallel to a tangential plane to the roller. Projections 8 on one of the wedge members 2, 3, preferably on the member 3 as shown in the drawings, are provided to reach through holes in the blade to locate the blade and to prevent its displacement.

Slot-like apertures 4 and 5', respectively, are provided in the bottom plate 4 and top plate 5.

. The cutting edge of the blade reaches into the aperture 4', and the pieces cut off from the tissue pass through both apertures 4' and 5. The wedge piece 3 is shaped to form one side of a passage way for the out 01f pieces between the bottom and topplates...."-

J V V.

Pairs-ofllugsii, ll] of the plates 4 and 5 serveforhingingthese plates together, their pivots H being advantageously formed by the ends of the shaft of the roller 6. A pin reachingthrough thesaid lugs and the roller can serve both forf pivoting the hinge and for rotatably supporting-the roller.

A handle I2, e. g. of :plastic material, is fastened to the main part of the instrument in a position adjacent to the top plate 5, using 'a screw l3 which engages the bottom plate 4 so that it can serve at the same time for clamping and holding together'the top and bottom plates, the wedge members and the blade between them. Instead of by a screw the handle may be secured to the top plate by welding or any other suitable method, or may be made integral with the top plate.

In a modification illustrated by the Figs. 2 and 3 projections 8a for locating the blade are provided on a forked slide [4 which is movable in a suitably recessed lower wedge member 2a and is adjustable in relation to it by means of a screw l5 engaging the forked slide l4 and the member 2a with right and left hand threads respectively. Thus the position of the cutting edge of the blade and thereby the depth of the cut can be adjusted.

The surfaces between which the blade is held, i. e. the respective wedge faces of the members 2, 3 can be plane as shown in the drawing, or they can be curved to afford a tensioning and curving of the blade when the wedge members are clamped together. In this manner the position of the cutting edge can also be varied by clamping the wedge members more or less closely together.

For many applications the embodiment shown in the drawing as having one cutting edge will be satisfactory, however, where two cutting edges are required a modified embodiment can comprise two cutting blades or knives arranged at either side of a roller which is positioned in the middle of an instrument whose construction is otherwise as before described with respect to the main parts of the instrument, whilst the handle may be suitably adapted and may be curved to bear with its two ends against the respective top plates of two assemblies, each comprising top and bottom plates, wedge-like supporting members and a cutting blade between the latter two members.

In another embodiment a single blade having two parallel cutting edges, like a razor blade, canbe used in an instrument which holds the blade curved and which is provided with guide 245191.

guard rollers arranged parallel to and in front of the respective cutting edges of the blade whereby gaps are formed between the said cutting edges and the rollers to provide passage ways for the pieces cut off the skin-like tissue.

The guide and guard rollers may be of metal or of non-metallic material, e. g. hard rubber, a

synthetic moulding material or the like, or the rollers may be of metal and lined with a different material, e. g. soft rubber, to ensure a smooth movement over uneven parts of the skin, or .to increase the friction between the skin-like tissue and the instrument.

The other parts of the instrument, i. e. .the

wedge-like supporting members and the clamping plates can also be made of metalor of a nonmetallic material, e. g. a synthetic moulding ma- 'terial.

Whilst particular embodiments of the inven tion and some modifications thereof have been 1. An instrument for cutting thin layers from skin-like tissue comprising a guard roller, means for rotatably supporting it, a cutting blade, two wedge members holding between them the cutting blade with its cutting edge-slightly distanced from the rollersurface and parallel to the axis of the roller, a top plate, a substantially planar bottom plate forming a guiding face parallel to the axis of the roller, a handle adjacent to the top plate, and means for holding together the handle, top and bottom plates, wedge members and blade between them.

2. An instrument according to claim 1 comprising top and bottom plates each provided with a pair of lugs positioned at right angles to the surface of the plates, and a pin reaching through coaxial holes of both pairs of lugs to hinge the two plates together and to support the roller rotatably.

3. Anins'trument according to claim 2 wherein the top and bottom plates are provided with transverse apertures, and the wedge adjacent to the top plate is shaped to form one side of a passage way for the pieces out off from the skinlike tissue.

LEOPOLD FREUDENBERGER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of thispatent:

'UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 184 Beckwith Apr. 29, 1837 189,967 Tierney Apr. 24, 1877 646262 Coe Mar. '27, 1900 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 13,699 Great Britain of 1911 56,708 Germany Feb. 11, 1938 

